India is forecast to have an attractive domestic market for mobile infotainment services and is slated to be among the top 5 in terms of mobile gamers, said Sridhar Mitta, president, TiE Chapter - Bangalore and MD of e4e Labs.

Speaking at a seminar on 'Mobile Data Services 2004' organised by July Systems in Bangalore, Mitta said: "We are slated to be among the top 10 in the world in terms of the number of Java enabled handsets, and among the top 5 in terms of number of mobile gamers.

"This is sure to spur activity and initiatives in this area, by Indian companies and entrepreneurs. I see India becoming a global hub for mobile content development, porting, testing & compliance, and support services".

Added Ashok Narasimhan, chairman, CEO & co-founder, July Systems: "With the number of mobile users worldwide expected to reach 2 billion by mid 2006, the size of the mobile content services market is forecast to be worth over $38 billion by that year. Mobile content should be transformed into compelling services including contests, mobile games tournaments, mobile communities, rights protected content sharing and gifting, and themed content packaging that increase the consumer's overall service experience. This is the key to driving consumer adoption and usage, and accelerating revenues from mobile infotainment services."

Narasimhan further added that service providers realise the enormous impact mobile infotainment can have on their bottom lines. "Content developers and content owners recognise wireless as an opportunity to increase their business franchise beyond traditional channels and wire-line portals by distributing their premium content to an established and expanding base of mobile data users.

"Telecom operators face with fiercely competitive pressures in the voice market, see the promise of compelling data services in opening up new revenue streams and increasing consumer spending on services," he noted.

Dwelling on the aspect of retailing mobile infotainment, Rajesh T S Reddy, president, July Systems said: "Having a large library of compelling mobile content and applications may not mean the battle is won. Service providers worldwide will vouch for a simple fact that real challenge in accelerating adoption, usage and revenues from mobile services is retailing these services in intuitive, user-friendly ways. The right charging mechanisms, acceptable price points and flexible service shelf-life management are only some of the many variables that need to be managed in order to make a service successful."